Military sites in range to ease Hong Kong housing crisis
Development chief admits that government could consider using former Hong Kong barracks and up to 13 other sites under the control of the PLA
The government is eyeing up military sites as it searches for land to ease the acute demand for housing, the development chief admitted on Wednesday.
Paul Chan Mo-po said the government was "working on" the idea, but did not give details.
He was speaking to legislators a day after the South China Morning Post reported that land occupied by private clubs whose leases were up for renewal was also being looked at, along with school and community sites.
After the handover, the People's Liberation Army took 14 sites comprising 2,571 hectares and the Hong Kong government 25 comprising 139 hectares.
Independent lawmaker Lam Tai-fai had asked Chan if the government would consider Osborn Barracks in Kowloon Tong - now held by the PLA - for flats instead of a neighbouring site sought by Baptist University to develop a Chinese medicine teaching hospital.
"We are, in fact, working on Lam's suggestion," Chan said. Central government approval would be needed for the use of military land, except former garrison sites already under Hong Kong government control.